This invention relates to a portable heater which is more compact in construction, more economical to fabricate, more efficient and satisfactory in use and unlikely to malfunction.
Portable heaters, particularly those which are oil burning heaters, have been the subject of much development effort. It nevertheless remains that such heaters are still characterized by difficulties in construction and/or performance, high energy cost in use, and less than desirable handling facility. For example, one of the considerable problems that still remain has been the apparent necessity for complex and expensive construction of parts designed to direct air to properly support and maintain combustion. Further, the portable space heater, particularly that which burns oil, has continued to be an unwieldly structure the low efficiency of which has necessitated sizable fuel tanks and cumbersome supports. The fuel tanks employed leave much to be desired, their construction being such to mitigate aginst a ready application and/or coupling thereto of a fuel line, let alone a fuel filter. The connections afforded in this respect are many times insecure, easily separated and subject, in short order in many cases, to leaks. Many portable oil burning space heaters, moreover, continue to emit dangerous fumes and are characterized by a requirement for frequent maintenance.
The present invention, to a substantial degree, obviates the foregoing enumerated problems which characterize the prior art "portable" space heaters, particularly those which employ oil as a fuel.